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Aversion refers to feelings of strong dislike or avoidance toward particular stimuli or situations. Aversion can be caused by pain stimuli and has a long-term negative impact on physical and mental health. Aversion can also be caused by drug abuse withdrawal, resulting in people with substance use disorder to relapse. However, the mechanisms underlying aversion remain unclear. The ventrolateral periaqueductal gray (vlPAG) is considered to play a key role in aversive behavior. Our study showed that inhibition of vlPAG GABAergic neurons significantly attenuated the conditioned place aversion (CPA) induced by hindpaw pain pinch or naloxone-precipitated morphine withdrawal. However, activating or inhibiting glutamatergic neurons, or activating GABAergic neurons cannot affect or alter CPA response. AKAP150 protein expression and phosphorylated TRPV1 (p-TRPV1) were significantly upregulated in these two CPA models. In AKAP150flox/flox mice and C57/B6J wild-type mice, cell-type-selective inhibition of AKAP150 in GABAergic neurons in the vlPAG attenuated aversion. However, downregulating AKAP150 in glutamatergic neurons did not attenuate aversion. Knockdown of AKAP150 in GABAergic neurons effectively reversed the p-TRPV1 upregulation in these two CPA models utilized in our study. Collectively, inhibition of the AKAP150/p-TRPV1 pathway in GABAergic neurons in the vlPAG may be considered a potential therapeutic target for the CPA response. AKAP150 modulates TRPV1 phosphorylation in GABAergic, but not glutamatergic, neurons of the ventrolateral periaqueductal gray to control conditioned place aversion in male mice [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Oxaliplatin is widely used in cancer treatment, however, many patients will suffer from neuropathic pain (NP) induced by it at the same time. Therefore exploring the mechanism and founding novel target for this problem are needed. In this study, YTHDF1 showed upregulation in oxaliplatin treated mice. As m6A is known as conserved and it widely functions in numerous physiological and pathological processes. Therefore, we focused on exploring the molecular mechanism of whether and how YTHDF1 functions in NP induced by oxaliplatin. IHC and western blotting were conducted to measure proteins. Intrathecal injection for corresponding siRNAs in C57/BL6 mice or spinal microinjection for virus in YTHDF1flox/flox mice were applied to specially knockdown the expression of molecular. Von Frey, acetone test and ethyl chloride (EC) test were applied to evaluate NP behavior. YTHDF1, Wnt3a, TNF-α and IL-18 were increased in oxaliplatin treated mice, restricted the molecular mentioned above respectively can significantly attenuate oxaliplatin-induced NP, including the mechanical allodynia and cold allodynia. Silencing YTHDF1 and inhibiting Wnt3a and Wnt signaling pathways can reduce the enhancement of TNF-α and IL-18, and the decreasing of the upregulation of YTHDF1 can be found when inhibiting Wnt3a and Wnts signaling pathways in oxaliplatin treated mice. Our study indicated a novel pathway that can contribute to oxaliplatin-induced NP, the Wnt3a/YTHDF1 to cytokine pathway, which upregulating YTHDF1 functioned as the downstream of Wnt3a signal and promoted the translation of TNF-α and IL-18 in oxaliplatin treated mice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A general analytical solution procedure for the Brinkman–Forchheimer-extended Darcy model has been proposed to obtain local thermal non-equilibrium solutions for the fully developed forced convection in a channel filled with a porous medium subject to constant wall heat flux. This is the first analytical solution procedure which allows the interstitial heat transfer coefficient to vary locally across the channel, depending on the local velocity, and provides complete solutions for wide ranges of various controlling parameters. An approximate integral solution procedure was also developed to estimate the unknown gradients needed for the shooting method. Such approximate formulas obtained for the flow resistances and Nusselt number turn out to be sufficiently accurate for practical estimations. The solution surfaces for the flow resistances and Nusselt number were constructed using the axes of the reciprocal of Darcy number and Forchheimer Reynolds number. Moreover, the equivalent Darcy number was introduced to transform complex cases of the Brinkman–Forchheimer–Darcy flow to the simpler cases of the Brinkman–Darcy flows. The heat transfer performance evaluation conducted for a metal foam-embedded channel under equal pumping power reveals that the metal foam of higher solidity gives higher heat transfer performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An analytical and numerical study was made on thermally developing forced convective flow in a channel filled with a fluid-saturated porous medium, subject to constant heat flux, under local thermal non-equilibrium. The Brinkman-extended Darcy model was employed to investigate the combined effects of the Darcy number, Biot number, effective thermal conductivity ratio and Graetz number on the longitudinal thermal development in a channel filled with a highly porous medium. 3D convective regime maps were constructed for wide ranges of the parameters, using a 3D coordinate system based on the Biot, Darcy and Graetz number coordinates. The 3D convective regime maps proposed in this study enable one to identify the three distinctive thermal regions possible along the longitudinal coordinate in a channel, namely the entrance developing region, transition region and fully developed region, depending on the relative thicknesses of the fluid and solid thermal boundary layers. It has been found that the Darcy number strongly influences the heat transfer rate in the developing region, yielding a higher Nusselt number for a lower Darcy number, whereas both Biot number and the effective thermal conductivity ratio markedly influence the level of the fully developed Nusselt number. The heat transfer performance evaluation carried out under equal pumping power for the aluminum foam embedded channel saturated with air reveals that a substantial heat transfer argumentation is possible by filling the channel with an aluminum foam. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: COVID-19 is a global pandemic. The purpose of this study is to explore correlations between the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) and meteorological indicators from cities across China. Methods: We collected daily data of the cumulative number of infected, recovered and death cases, and the meteorological indicators including average temperature, wind speed, relative humidity, precipitation and air quality index (AQI) from 12 cities in China during the period of Jan 23 to Feb 22, 2020. Correlation tests were chosen for data analysis. Results: The average temperature and AQI showed significant association with the mortality rate of COVID-19. The mortality rate was not correlated with wind speed, relative humidity or precipitation. Meanwhile, higher average temperatures and more precipitation were beneficial for the recovery rate of COVID-19, but the recovery rate was not correlated with wind speed, relative humidity or AQI. Conclusions: Our study provides a new basis for correlations between COVID-19, meteorological indicators and air quality index, which can help authorities to combat COVID-19. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A general boundary-layer coordinate transformation was proposed in order to find the necessary conditions under which similarity solutions exist for free, forced and mixed convective Darcian flows subject to local thermal non-equilibrium. The aim of this study is to present the effects of local thermal non-equilibrium on the boundary-layer heat transfer in porous media, identifying each of the parameters controlling the thermal boundary-layer development. The findings of this systematic study are quite beneficial to those dealing with thermal applications using porous media. Similarity solutions are found to exist for such local thermal non-equilibrium cases as forced convection around the stagnation regions of horizontal cylinder and sphere heated according to a power function of the distance from the stagnation point, free convection over a vertical plate with its temperature increasing linearly, and free and mixed convection around the stagnation regions of isothermally heated horizontal cylinder and sphere. The study clearly indicates that the local thermal equilibrium assumption results in substantial overestimation of heat transfer rates. The local non-equilibrium effects must be considered when the modified interstitial Stanton number is less than its criterion value around 10. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Valproic acid (VPA), a medication primarily used to treat epilepsy and bipolar disorder, has been applied to the repair of central and peripheral nervous system injury. The present study investigated the effect of VPA on functional recovery, survival of facial motor neurons (FMNs), and expression of proteins in rats after facial nerve trunk transection by functional measurement, Nissl staining, TUNEL, immunofluorescence, and Western blot. Following facial nerve injury, all rats in group VPA showed a better functional recovery, which was significant at the given time, compared with group NS. The Nissl staining results demonstrated that the number of FMNs survival in group VPA was higher than that in group normal saline (NS). TUNEL staining showed that axonal injury of facial nerve could lead to neuronal apoptosis of FMNs. But treatment of VPA significantly reduced cell apoptosis by decreasing the expression of Bax protein and increased neuronal survival by upregulating the level of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) and growth associated protein-43 (GAP-43) expression in injured FMNs compared with group NS. Overall, our findings suggest that VPA may advance functional recovery, reduce lesion-induced apoptosis, and promote neuron survival after facial nerve transection in rats. This study provides an experimental evidence for better understanding the mechanism of injury and repair of peripheral facial paralysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is important to comprehensively evaluate and monitor urban drinking water quality to ensure a safe and clean drinking water supply. This paper discusses evaluating, analyzing and monitoring of urban drinking water quality and application systematically and proposes a multiple criteria decision-making model, which integrates analytic hierarchy process (AHP), Kullback-Leibler divergence ratio (KLDR) and comprehensive weighted index (CWI) method to evaluate the quality of drinking water comprehensively. AHP method and KLDR are employed to distribute reasonable weight to indices, and CWI method is used to get comprehensive score of multiple criteria system for evaluation. Association analysis is used to find the useful association rules between criteria and drinking water quality. Geographic information system (GIS) technology is employed to show the distribution map of drinking water quality visually. The proposed method is applied to real-time comprehensive evaluation and visualized monitoring of drinking water quality in Shanghai City. The distribution map of drinking water quality based on GIS can provide monitoring and government agencies with an overall assessment and enable them to make better informed decisions. Real-time application shows that the proposed methods are effective for the assessment and monitoring of urban water quality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Huiying Huang and Xiuji Liang contributed equally to this work. B Correction to: Journal of Environmental Health Science and Engineering. b https://doi.org/10.1007/s40201-020-00564-y The word "first" was removed from page 6 of 2nd paragraph of discussion section. [Extracted from the article]

In this study, 342 bacterial strains were isolated from the gut of channel catfish Ictalurus punctatus. Two different screening strategies, including the production of antagonistic effects against pathogens and the capacity of secreting exoenzyme, were used to select potential probiotics from the bacterial strains. Among them, 6 isolates showed antagonism against the pathogens, 15 isolates could produce high amylase and protease, and 3 isolates (BHI344, BH0142 and BH03124) had both the two characteristics . Then, BHI344, BH0142, and BH03124 were tested for survival rate in channel catfish bile and at low pH, antimicrobial susceptibilities, and pathogenicity in channel catfish. The results of the obtained assays showed that BHI344 possessed the broadest inhibitory potential, a strong ability of secreting extra-cellular amylase and protease, high viability in simulated gastrointestinal conditions, and sensitivity to most of the used antibiotics and non-pathogenic to channel catfish. Therefore, it could be selected as the most promising probiotics candidate. BHI344 was identified as Bacillus subtilis based on the phenotypic characterization and 16S rRNA gene sequencing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The α-adrenergic receptors (α-ARs), which mediate physiological responses to noradrenaline and adrenaline, are encoded by three different genes but all are coupled to the G/G subfamily of G proteins. The present study investigated the localization of three subtypes, i.e., α-, α-, and α-ARs, in cochlea and vestibular labyrinth in rat in the early postnatal period by immunohistochemistry. The results showed that α-ARs were widely distributed in regions, including the organ of Corti, spiral ganglion neurons, stria vascularis, crista ampullaris, Scarpa's ganglion, utricle, and Reissner's membrane. Furthermore, the cellular locations of α-ARs between different cell subtypes as well as receptor subtypes and different observed time points also had diversity. α-AR mainly targeted to nuclei at postnatal ages (P)3. While at P(8), only ganglion neurons maintained this character whereas other cell types expressed α-AR mainly in plasma membrane. The α- and α-ARs exhibited predominantly in plasma membrane. Compared with P(8), α-AR was not present at stria vascularis at P(3). Overall, our observations indicated that there was region-specific regulation of α-ARs development in cochlea and vestibular labyrinth. In addition, the extensive expressions of α-ARs established a significant foundation for the exploration of the function of α-ARs in cochlea and vestibular labyrinth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Peroxynitrite(ONOO), a product of nitric oxide and superoxide anion interaction, is a powerful and versatile oxidant. In this work, the human cerebral vascular smooth muscle cells (HCVSMCs) were cultured in vitro and subjected to different concentrations of ONOO. Cell viability and morphological changes were measured by methylthiazoletetrazolium (MTT) assay and Ho33342/PI double staining respectively. The apoptotic rate was assessed by flow cytometry. The alterations in the expression of DDR2 at both mRNA and protein levels were examined by real-time PCR and Western-blot simultaneously. Direct exposure of HCVSMCs to ONOO was able to inhibit the cell proliferation, which was further revealed via the apoptotic pathway. ONOO exerted a dual-effect on DDR2 expression at both mRNA and protein levels that depended on the concentrations of ONOO. Our results demonstrate for the first time that DDR2 gene may play an important role in ONOO-induced apoptosis in HCVSMCs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Granulin-epithelin precursor (GEP) is an autocrine growth factor that has been implicated in embryonic development, tissue repair, tumorigenesis, and inflammation. Here we report that GEP was expressed in skeletal muscle tissue and its level was differentially altered in the course of C2C12 myoblast fusion. The GEP expression during myoblast fusion was a consequence of MyoD transcription factor binding to several E-box (CANNTG) sequences in the 5′-flanking regulatory region of GEP gene, followed by transcription. Recombinant GEP potently inhibited myotube formation from C2C12 myoblasts whereas the knockdown of endogenous of GEP via a siRNA approach accelerated the fusion of myoblasts to myotubes. Interestingly, the muscle fibers of GEP knockdown mice were larger in number but noticeably smaller in size when compared to the wild-type. Mechanistic studies revealed that during myoblast fusion, the addition of GEP led to remarkable reductions in the expressions of muscle-specific transcription factors, including MyoD. In addition, the regulation of myotube formation by GEP is mediated by the anti-myogenic factor JunB, which is upregulated following GEP stimulation. Thus, GEP growth factor, JunB, and MyoD transcription factor form a regulatory loop and act in concert in the course of myogenesis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Long pentraxin PTX3 is an inflammatory mediator and a component of the humoral arm of innate immunity. PTX3 expression is increased in animals with acute lung injury (ALI) and in patients with sepsis or acute respiratory distress syndrome and is considered to be a potential biomarker for these diseases. However, the role of PTX3 in the pathogenesis of ALI is not fully understood. We hypothesized that PTX3, as an important immune modulator, may determine the severity of ALI. Methods: Lipopolysaccharide (LPS) was intra-tracheally administrated to PTX3 knock-out (PTX3-KO) and wild-type (WT) mice. Lung injury, neutrophil infiltration, cell death, fibrin deposition, and tissue factor expression in the lung were determined. Local and systemic inflammatory responses were assessed by measuring cytokines in the lung and plasma. Results: LPS instillation induced ALI in both PTX3-KO and WT mice. Interestingly, PTX3 deficiency significantly increased the magnitude/extent of lung injury compared to that in WT mice. The severe lung injury was accompanied by elevated neutrophil infiltration, cell death, and fibrin deposition in the lung. PTX3 deficiency also enhanced LPS-induced tissue factor expression/activation in the lung and increased tumor necrosis factor-alpha and monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 levels in the plasma. Conclusion: Our data suggest that the endogenously expressed PTX3 plays a protective role in the pathogenesis of ALI and that a lack of PTX3 may enhance neutrophil recruitment, cell death, activation of coagulation cascades, and inflammatory responses in the lung. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]